Learn French: Elle est en train de lire un journal. - She is in the middle of reading a newspaper.

Elle est en train de lire un journal.

She is in the middle of reading a newspaper.

Breakdown of Elle est en train de lire un journal.

to be in the middle of (doing)

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Questions & Answers about Elle est en train de lire un journal.

What does en train de mean here? Is she on a train?

No, it has nothing to do with trains! The phrase être en train de followed by an infinitive verb (like lire) is a fixed expression that means to be in the process of doing something right now.

French usually uses the simple present for continuous actions (elle lit). Why use est en train de lire here?

You are right that elle lit normally covers both she reads and she is reading. You use est en train de when you really want to emphasize that the action is happening at this very moment, like she is in the middle of reading.

Why is the verb lire used in its full infinitive form instead of being conjugated?

Because it directly follows the preposition de. In French, whenever a verb comes right after a preposition like de, à, or sans, it must remain in its unconjugated dictionary form.

Since the current lesson is about depuis (for/since), could I say Elle est en train de lire depuis une heure?

You should avoid that because it sounds unnatural in French. To say she has been reading for an hour, you just use the regular present tense with depuis, like this: Elle lit un journal depuis une heure. You generally do not mix être en train de with depuis.